Nemesis
Nemesis was a competitor robot from the Republic of Ireland which fought in the first two series of Robot Wars. The first of two robots entered by Team Nemesis, it performed strongly in the Gauntlet and Trial stages in each of its appearances, but was eliminated in the Arena Semi-Final stage both times by Roadblock (Series 1) and Onslaught (Series 2) respectively. The robot itself was especially famous for its flammable polka dot fur, which was often set alight by Sergeant Bash and would become a hallmark of Team Nemesis and their subsequent robots. Nemesis was later succeeded by Diotoir, which shared its polka dot fur and was fully named "Diotoir, Son of Nemesis" in honour of its predecessor. Design Nemesis was a two-wheeled robot with a circular-shaped body and tall wheel arches, itself designed to resemble a head. The robot was covered in red and black polka dot fur – itself highly flammable – and decorated with bloodshot eyes, eyebrows made from broom brushes and a felt grin on the front. Nemesis' body was actually made out of 2mm stainless steel, offering it a reasonable amount of protection in spite of the fur's flammability. Its weapons were a pneumatic spiked ram running at a pressure of 150psi and sets of static steel spikes around the sides and rear, although Nemesis mostly relied on its pushing power throughout its appearances. Nemesis had a top speed of 6mph, a 5cm ground clearance and a zero-degree turning circle, while its weight in Series 1 was 76.8kg. Nemesis_s2_official_image.JPG|Official image of Nemesis in Series 2 NemesisSeries2.jpg|The team's photo of Nemesis in Series 2 Nemesisbandaged.jpg|Nemesis, heavily bandaged prior to its Skittles run Chef Nemesis.JPG|Nemesis, as it appeared in the Inferno Insurrection In Series 2, Nemesis returned with a few minor changes. As well as a larger grin, it also featured a front 'sword' based on a Roman Gladius, and hooked claw-like cutting blades replacing the side spikes. The robot's weight was decreased to 74.5kg, a saving of 2.3kg, while its bodyshell received a green and black polka dot colour scheme emulating the pattern on its fur. For its Arena Semi-Final battle, Nemesis received a kebab attached in between the wheelarches, with the intention of having Sergeant Bash set it alight during the battle. It also received a chef's hat and had its fur doused in paraffin for the Inferno Insurrection battle within The Grudge Matches special, again with the intention of catching fire and entertaining the audience. Terror Australis Although having been retired at the end of Series 2, Nemesis was lent to the Australian Terror Australis team during the Series 3 International League Championship, after their original robot broke down before its first fight. For this appearance, Nemesis was renamed after the Terror Australis team's original robot, and repainted yellow and green with unpainted sides and Australian flags on the top armour. The robot's pneumatic spear was officially stated on its statistics board to fire at 1000psi; almost ten times the power it had in Series 1. Qualification For the First Wars, Nemesis arrived with other Series 1 competitors four weeks prior to filming. Nemesis was not complete at the time, still retaining its original cylinder look and it was weighed as well as test driven around a makeshift labyrinth. Robot History Series 1 Nemesis made its Robot Wars debut in Heat A of the First Wars. It was the fourth robot in this heat to attempt The Gauntlet; Nemesis began its run by steadily lurching and weaving off the turntable, before making a successful run up the see-saw on the centre route. It turned sharply to the right and drove off the side of the see-saw, dodging Sergeant Bash's flamethrower in the process, before attempting a clear run up the ramp. Nemesis stopped short of Matilda and the swinging pendulum; as before, it turned and drove off the left side of the ramp, withstanding a hit from the pendulum as it slalomed its way into Matilda and over the end zone. With this, Nemesis completed the Gauntlet course, and finished first on the leaderboard with this brisk run. Nemesis qualified for the Sumo Trial, and as before was the fourth robot to face Shunt on the ring. The two robots immediately drove into each other, with Shunt pushing Nemesis precariously close to the edge of the ring. Nemesis survived, weaving itself away and backing into Shunt's plough; its movements prevented the House Robot from pushing it back again. It spun round and bumped Shunt again, before backing into Shunt's side and pushing him over the edge of the ring. Nemesis drove forwards, before forcing Shunt into the tyres just as the House Robot fell off – the second time in this heat in which he had been defeated. Once again, it finished on top of the results table with this performance. In the Arena Semi-Finals, Nemesis faced the wedge-shaped Roadblock, for a chance to progress to the Heat Final. Before the battle, Team Nemesis discovered that the robot’s speed controller had burnt out; without a spare, they elected to repair its drive system instead of withdrawing from the competition, although this left Nemesis without any reverse drive. The two robots slowly advanced towards each other in the opening seconds, bumping and driving away from each other as they met. Nemesis withstood a slam from Roadblock as the latter’s circular saw hit its front, firing its spike a few times and flexing Roadblock’s saw as it lost parts of its fur. As it turned and attempted to drive away, Nemesis was pushed from the side by Roadblock, which tore more pieces of fur off the sides and front of Nemesis. Nemesis turned round and attempted to push Roadblock back, and pursued the latter around the arena. It was then pushed into Dead Metal's CPZ by Roadblock – a moment not shown on the televised broadcast – but escaped, and chased Roadblock again as it drove into Matilda's CPZ. Capitalising on Roadblock's error, Nemesis drove into the latter's saw again, but backed away and spun round, allowing Roadblock to push it towards the side bars once it became freed. Seconds later, Matilda rammed Roadblock completely underneath Nemesis; as Nemesis drove off Roadblock's wedge, it was bumped and set alight by Sergeant Bash, eventually ending up on the side bars. While the fire on Nemesis' fur spread, Matilda cut through one of its boggle eyes with her chainsaw, before the two robots drove each other around in circles close to one of the grilles. Nemesis succeeded in pushing Matilda onto the grille just before 'cease' was called, and was quickly extinguished by a member of the Robot Wars crew. Despite still being mobile, it was considered to have lost the battle, and was therefore eliminated from the First Wars, although not without having left several holes in Roadblock’s armour with the spike. At the end of the series, Nemesis was presented with the inaugural 'Sportsmanship Award', the first of many received by Team Nemesis throughout their appearances on the show. Series 2 Nemesis returned for the Second Wars, competing in Heat G. It was the third robot in that heat to attempt The Gauntlet, and began its run by turning towards the right-hand route and attempting to drive through the ramrig. Nemesis turned sharply and momentarily got caught on the ramrig, but moved forwards and stopped short of Sergeant Bash, whose flamethrower briefly torched its fur. It waited before pushing Sergeant Bash sideways, only to reverse after bumping into his ramming blade. This allowed Sergeant Bash to set more of Nemesis' fur on fire, revealing its stainless steel shell, before Nemesis negotiated across the Flame Pit and drove into Sir Killalot, the fire spreading in the process. Despite the flames, Nemesis pushed Sir Killalot back to cross the end zone, and was extinguished by a firefighter shortly after Craig Charles' interview. It ended the Gauntlet stage second on the leaderboard, allowing it to qualify for the Trial stage once again. Afterwards, it was discovered that in addition to the burnt fur, Nemesis sustained damage to its shell from Sir Killalot's pincers, while Team Nemesis revealed to Philippa Forrester their intention to add a kebab to the robot later on in the competition. In Skittles, Nemesis was the third of the remaining robots to begin its run, heavily bandaged and with parts of its fur missing. Nevertheless, it slowly trundled past Sergeant Bash and into the nearest stack of barrels, knocking them down and having one of the barrels land on its top armour in the process. Nemesis steadily ploughed through the next two sets of barrels, then through most of the left-hand stacks, and burrowed itself through the central stacks, getting one of the barrels stuck in its right claw just before 'cease' was called. Despite sustaining yet another fire, it finished the Trial with a score of 38 barrels, enough for Nemesis to finish third on the leaderboard and qualify for the Arena Semi-Final stage once again. There, it faced series newcomer Onslaught, now fitted with a kebab in between the wheelarches. In the opening seconds, Nemesis turned towards Onslaught as the latter made its charge, the two robots bumping into each other as a result. It momentarily lingered near Sergeant Bash, who briefly singed its kebab as Nemesis rammed into Onslaught a second time. Nemesis ambled across the arena as Onslaught was attacked in the PPZ by Sergeant Bash and Dead Metal, only to be bumped once again by the Bedfordshire machine. Seconds later, Nemesis stopped moving, and was left helpless as Onslaught pushed it into the pit; later on, it was found that the pit's pyrotechnics had set a small part of its fur alight again. Needless to say, it was eliminated from the main competition of the Second Wars. Nemesis made one more appearance in The Grudge Matches special, where it appeared in the Inferno Insurrection exhibition battle alongside Sergeant Bash and the Stock Robot Ramrombit. Before the battle, Nemesis and Ramrombit were doused in paraffin to increase the likelihood of both robots catching fire, while the former sported a new grin, flammable covers for its sword and claws and a chef's hat to compliment the kebab. The battle began with Nemesis pursuing and bumping into Sergeant Bash’s back end; moments later, the House Robot set both robots alight, with a large streak of flame engulfing Nemesis' right side as it bumped Sergeant Bash again. Sparks flew as it pushed the latter across the arena, before Nemesis rammed Sergeant Bash again as its kebab and most of its top fur were left ablaze. Nemesis spun round and drove into Sergeant Bash once again, before stopping near the PPZ as its fur, boggle eyes and kebab kept burning. As the Inferno Insurrection was held purely to entertain the audience, no winner was declared – the battle marked Nemesis' last appearance in Robot Wars under its original name. At the end of the Second Wars, Nemesis was nominated for the 'Sportsmanship Award'; however, it lost out to Plunderbird 2. Series 3 Although Team Nemesis entered the Third Wars with Nemesis' successor, Diotoir, Nemesis itself was lent to the Terror Australis team for the International League Championship, and competed there under the name of the team's original robot. For more information, see Terror Australis. Results |} Wins/Losses *Wins: 0 *Losses: 2 *''Nemesis' successful Gauntlet and Trial runs are not included, nor is the Inferno Insurrection'' *''As Terror Australis, Nemesis lost two battles, and earned one draw'' Series Record TeamNemesis.jpg|Nemesis with its team in Series 1 Nemesis smile.jpg|Nemesis without its eyebrows nemesis s1 aftermath.JPG|Nemesis after its fight against Roadblock Trivia *According to Team Nemesis captain Peter Redmond, Nemesis was designed with the idea of having a "personality" in mind. He chose to cover the robot in fur to reinforce this, after noting that flamethrowers were prohibited by competitors (although he did not realise that Sergeant Bash would be equipped with one). *Both of Nemesis' appearances were in the same heat as Roadblock. **Nemesis' loss against Roadblock in Series 1 made it the first robot to lose a Robot Wars battle of any kind. *Nemesis is one of twenty-three robots to have completed The Gauntlet. **Along with Dreadnaut, Mortis and Roadblock, it is one of only four robots to have completed it twice. *Nemesis was the first robot to become victorious in the Sumo, and therefore the first to defeat a House Robot through any method. *Nemesis was one of six robots to finish first in both the Gauntlet and Trial stages of a single heat, along with All Torque, Corporal Punishment, Demolition Demon, Razer and Robot The Bruce. **Along with Razer and Corporal Punishment, it was one of three competitors to do so before losing in the Arena Semi-Final stage. *Nemesis was nominated for the Sportsmanship Award in Series 2 after winning in Series 1, but lost to Plunderbird. Along with Mortis and Chaos 2, Nemesis is one of only three robots to be nominated for the award it held the previous year, and then lose it. *Fittingly, Nemesis was the first robot ever to catch fire in Robot Wars, doing so in its Series 1 battle against Roadblock. *By virtue of Nemesis being altered and competing as Terror Australis in the Series 3 International League Championship, Nemesis and Diotoir are the only heavyweight robots from the same team to fight each other. Honours Nominations *'Sportsmanship Award' - Robot Wars: The Second Wars Category:UK Series competitors Category:Sportsmanship Award winners Category:Sportsmanship Nominees Category:Robots to complete the Gauntlet Category:Robots with multiple appearances without winning a battle Category:Robots with Retracting Spears Category:Robots that came first in both the Gauntlet and Trial Category:Robots with Spikes Category:Robots from the Republic of Ireland Category:Robots that only progressed in the Gauntlet or Trials Category:Robots with religious or mythological names Category:Robots that fought for multiple teams Category:Robots which debuted in Series 1 Category:Robots with cameo appearances in Series 3